Crash Information

Crash is a 2004 American drama film which won the Best Picture Oscar at the 78th Academy Awards. It was produced, directed, and co-written by Paul Haggis. The film features racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. A self-described "passion piece" for Haggis, Crash was inspired by a real-life incident, in which his Porsche was carjacked in 1991 outside a video store on Wilshire Boulevard.

Several characters' stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles: a black detective estranged from his mother; his criminal younger brother and gang associate; the white district attorney and his irritated, pampered wife; a racist white police officer who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner; an African-American Hollywood director whose wife must deal with the racist officer; a Persian-immigrant father who is wary of others; and a hard-working Hispanic locksmith family man.

The film deals with racism in a rather impartial approach; rather than separating the characters into victims and offenders, victims of racism are often shown to be prejudiced themselves in different contexts and situations; racist remarks and actions are often shown to stem from ignorance and misconception rather than malice.

The film features an ensemble cast, including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Thandie Newton, Michael Pea, and Ryan Phillippe. Matt Dillon was particularly praised for his performance and received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally, the cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. The film received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Paul Haggis, and won three for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing at the 78th Academy Awards. It was also nominated for nine BAFTA awards, and won two, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Thandie Newton.

Plot

Detective Graham Waters has suffered a car accident with his partner Ria. He mentions that the citizens of Los Angeles have lost their "sense of touch." Ria and the driver of the other car, Kim Lee, exchange racially charged insults. When Waters exits the car, he arrives at a police investigation crime scene concerning the discovery of a "dead kid." While purchasing a revolver at a gun store, Farhad, a Persian shop owner, and his daughter Dorri, argue over what box of bullets they should buy. The gun store owner grows impatient and degrades the two of them by referring to Farhad as "Osama." Farhad asserts that he is an American citizen, but the store owner continues insulting Farhad and has the security guard escort him out of the store. Faced with a choice, the store owner gives the gun to Dorri who then leaves with a specific box of bullets. Two black men Anthony and Peter carjack a married couple named Rick, a district attorney, and Jean Cabot as they are about to enter their SUV. At the Cabot house, Hispanic locksmith Daniel Ruiz changes their locks and leaves the keys on the kitchen counter when Jean notices his tattoos.

Waters and Ria arrive at the scene of a shooting between two drivers, both of whom are undercover police officers consisting of one who survived and the other who is dead. LAPD officer John Ryan calls an HMO on behalf of his father and has a racially charged argument with a representative named Shaniqua Johnson. Ryan and his partner Tom Hansen pull over the vehicle similar to the one carjacked earlier, despite discrepancies in the descriptions, and order the couple, director Cameron Thayer and his wife Christine, to exit. Cameron is cooperative, but Christine is argumentative. Arriving home from work, Daniel gives his young daughter Lara an "invisible impenetrable cloak," which makes her feel safe enough to fall asleep in her bed.

In the carjacked SUV, Anthony and Peter hit a Korean man while passing a parked van, dump him in front of a hospital, and drive away. Hansen talks to his superior Lt. Dixon about switching partners, but Dixon denies that. Ryan visits Shaniqua and apologizes for the argument, but Shaniqua nearly calls security to escort Ryan out of her office. Daniel replaces a lock at Farhad's shop, but is accused of cheating by Farhad. He discovers the store has been wrecked and defaced with graffiti, causing it to face closure and Farhad to vow revenge on Daniel. Waters visits his hard drug-abusing mother, who asks him to find his missing younger brother.

Ryan comes across a car accident and as he crawls into the overturned vehicle, he finds Christine trapped. With the help of his partner and spectators, Ryan pulls Christine out just as her car bursts into flames. Anthony and Peter approach another navigator which happens to be Cameron's. They only see Cameron driving after they open the door and are shocked to see that the driver is black. Anthony tells Peter to shoot Cameron, but Peter does not. As police officers arrive, Cameron and Anthony both race for the car and jump in. Cameron drives away, with Anthony continuing to point a gun at him. Cameron drives into a dead end, puts Anthony's gun into his pocket, and exits the car, all the while yelling insults at the officers. Hansen vouches for Cameron, fending off the other officers, and promising to give him a "harsh" warning.

Farhad locates Daniel's house and waits in ambush. As he confronts Daniel with his gun in hand, Lara jumps into Daniel's arms, attempting to protect her father with the "invisible cloak." Daniel's wife Elizabeth runs out the front door and watches in horror as Farhad shoots Lara. Daniel clutches his daughter as Fahrad stands shocked as both realized she has not been hit by any bullet. Daniel runs into the house with his wife and daughter, leaving Fahrad outside. Farhad later tells his daughter that he believes the little girl was his guardian angel, preventing him from committing a terrible crime. Dorri is then shown with the box of bullets she had purchased, labeled as blanks.

Hansen pulls over to pick up a hitchhiking Peter. As the two converse, it is clear that Hansen does not trust Peter. Peter begins to laugh suddenly, offending Hansen and causing him to pull over. As Peter attempts to explain why he is laughing, Hansen believes he is pulling out a gun and mistakenly shoots and kills Peter. In his hand is a statuette similar to the one on Hansen's dash. Horrified, Hansen hides the body in the bushes and burns his car. Waters arrives at the scene with his partner and the connection is made that Peter is his missing brother. His mother collapses upon seeing his body at the morgue, and Dorri is revealed to be the coroner. When Waters promises to find who is responsible, his mother tells him that it was his fault for not finding his younger brother.

Anthony decides to steal the van of the Korean man he accidentally hit, and drops it off at a chop shop he frequents, only to discover a number of Cambodian immigrants locked in the back of the van, revealing that the Korean man was involved in human trafficking. The chop shop owner offers him $500 per immigrant. Whilst resting in her bed after falling down the stairs, Jean hugs Maria, saying she is the only true friend she has ever had and apologizes. Anthony is seen driving into Chinatown and sets the Cambodian people free, passing a car crash on his way out which turns out to involve Shaniqua.

Cast

• Sandra Bullock as Jean Cabot
• Don Cheadle as Det. Graham Waters
• Matt Dillon as Sgt. John Ryan
• Jennifer Esposito as Ria
• Brendan Fraser as D.A. Rick Cabot
• Terrence Howard as Cameron Thayer
• Ludacris as Anthony
• Thandie Newton as Christine Thayer
• Michael Pea as Daniel Ruiz
• Ryan Phillippe as Officer Tom Hansen
• Larenz Tate as Peter Waters
• Shaun Toub as Farhad
• Bahar Soomekh as Dorri
• Ashlyn Sanchez as Lara Ruiz
• Karina Arroyave as Elizabeth Ruiz
• Loretta Devine as Shaniqua Johnson
• Beverly Todd as Mrs. Waters
• William Fichtner as Flanagan
• Keith David as Lt. Dixon
• Daniel Dae Kim as Park
• Nona Gaye as Karen
• Bruce Kirby as 'Pop' Ryan
• Tony Danza as Fred
• Kathleen York as Officer Johnson
• Sylva Kelegian as Nurse Hodges
• Marina Sirtis as Shereen

Release

Box office

Crash opened in wide release on May 6, 2005, and was a box office success in the late spring of 2005. The film had a budget of $6.5 million (plus $1 million in financing). Because of the financial constraints, director Haggis filmed in his own house, borrowed a set from the TV show Monk, used his car in parts of the film, and even used cars from other staff members. The film grossed $53.4 million domestically, making back more than seven times its budget. Despite its success in relation to its cost, Crash was the lowest-grossing film at the domestic box office to win Best Picture since The Last Emperor in 1987.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 74% based on 236 reviews, with an average score of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A raw and unsettling morality piece on modern angst and urban disconnect, Crash examines the dangers of bigotry and xenophobia in the lives of interconnected Angelenos." On Metacritic the film has a score of 69 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". According to CinemaScore, audiences gave the film a grade of "A?" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film 4/4 stars and described it as "a movie of intense fascination", listing it as the best film of 2005. The film also ranks at #460 in Empires 2008 poll of the "500 Greatest Films of All Time".

Some later reviews of Crash have been less favorable. Cultural critic Ta-Nehisi Coates criticized the film as shallow and "unthinking," naming Crash "the worst film of the decade." The film has been critiqued for depicting the Persian shopkeeper as a "deranged, paranoid individual who is only redeemed by what he believes is a mystical act of God." The film has also been criticized for using multicultural and sentimentalist imagery to cover over material and "historically sedimented inequalities" that continue to affect different racial groups in Los Angeles.

In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected Crash as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years.

Oscar controversy

Crash won the Best Picture Oscar at the 78th Academy Awards, controversially beating the critically favored Brokeback Mountain and making it only the second film ever (the other being The Sting) to win the Academy Award for Best Picture without having been nominated for any of the three Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture (Best Drama, Best Comedy/Musical and Best Foreign Film).

The film's use of moral quandary as a storytelling medium was widely reported as ironic, since many saw it as the "safe" alternative to Brokeback Mountain, whose plot focused on gay cowboys. Critic Kenneth Turan suggested that Crash benefited from anti-gay discomfort among Academy members, while critic Roger Ebert was of a different opinion, arguing that the better film won that year. Ebert also questioned why many critics were not acknowledging the other nominees, claiming that they were criticizing Crash's win solely because it won over their preferred film.

Film Comment magazine placed Crash first on their list of "Worst Winners of Best Picture Oscars", followed by Slumdog Millionaire at #2, and Chicago at #3. Similarly, a 2014 survey of film critics by The Atlantic identified the film's victory as among the most glaring mistakes made by the Academy Awards.

In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter polled hundreds of Academy members, asking them to re-vote on past controversial decisions. For the 2006 Best Picture winner, Brokeback Mountain beat Crash and the other nominees.

Paul Haggis said in a 2015 interview that he did not believe that the film deserved to win Best Picture.

Accolades

Crash was nominated for six awards at the 78th Academy Awards and won three, including the win for Best Picture. It was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Supporting Actor (Matt Dillon) and the other for Best Screenplay (Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco).

Other awards include Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards; Best Original Screenplay at the Writers Guild of America Awards 2005; Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Newton) at the 59th British Academy Film Awards; Best Writer at the Critics' Choice Awards; Outstanding Motion Picture and Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role (Howard) at the Black Movie Awards; Best First Feature and Best Supporting Male (Dillon) at the Independent Spirit Awards; Best Cast and Best Writer at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards; and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Howard) and Outstanding Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards.

List of awards and nominations
Award	Category	Recipient(s) and nominee(s)	Result
78th Academy Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Matt Dillon
	Best Director	Paul Haggis
	Best Film Editing	Hughes Winborne
	Best Picture	Paul Haggis and Cathy Schulman
	Best Original Song	"In the Deep"
	Best Original Screenplay	Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco
2006 ALMA Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture	Michael Pea
1st Austin Film Critics Association Awards	Best Director	Paul Haggis
	Best Film
59th BAFTA Film Awards	Best Cinematography	J. Michael Muro
	Best Director	Paul Haggis
	Best Editing	Hughes Winborne
	Best Film
	Best Sound
	Best Screenplay - Original	Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco
	Best Supporting Actor	Don Cheadle
	Best Supporting Actor	Matt Dillon
	Best Supporting Actress	Thandie Newton
Black Reel Awards 2005	Best Actor	Don Cheadle
	Best Ensemble
	Best Film
	Best Supporting Actor	Terrence Howard
		Matt Dillon
	Best Supporting Actress	Thandie Newton
11th BFCA Critics' Choice Awards	Best Cast
	Best Director	Paul Haggis
	Best Film
	Best Supporting Actor	Matt Dillon
	Best Supporting Actor	Terrence Howard
	Best Writer	Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco
18th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Best Film
	Best Screenplay	Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco
	Best Supporting Actor	Terrence Howard
12th Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Matt Dillon
58th Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Directorial Achievement	Paul Haggis
Empire Awards	Best Actor	Matt Dillon
	Best Actress	Thandie Newton
	Best Film
	Scene of the Year
63rd Golden Globe Awards	Best Screenplay	Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco
	Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture	Matt Dillon
37th NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Motion Picture
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	Terrence Howard
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	Don Cheadle
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	Larenz Tate
	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Thandie Newton
17th Producers Guild of America Awards	Motion Picture Producer of the Year	Paul Haggis and Cathy Schulman
12th Screen Actors Guild Awards	Best Cast
	Best Supporting Actor	Don Cheadle
	Best Supporting Actor	Matt Dillon
6th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Terrence Howard
4th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards	Best Cast
	Best Film
	Best Screenplay - Original	Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco
	Best Supporting Actor	Matt Dillon
	Best Supporting Actor	Terrence Howard
58th Writers Guild of America Awards	Best Screenplay - Original	Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco

Music

Score

All songs were written and composed by Mark Isham, except where noted. The original score was released through labels Gut and Colosseum in 2005. The iTunes release is the complete score released through Yari Music Group, and has the cues isolated and in film order (unlike the commercial score CD which is edited, incomplete, in a different order, and in suite form).

iTunes version (complete score)

Soundtrack

The soundtrack's title is Crash: Music from and Inspired by the Film.

Home media

Crash was released on DVD on September 6, 2005, in widescreen and fullscreen one-disc versions, with a number of bonus features, including a music video by KansasCali (now known as The Rocturnals) for the song "If I..." from the soundtrack. The director's cut of the film was released in a two-disc special edition DVD on April 4, 2006, with more bonus content than the one-disc set. The director's cut is three minutes longer than the theatrical cut. The scene where Daniel is talking with his daughter under her bed is extended and a new scene is added with officer Hansen in the police station locker room.

The film also was released in a limited edition VHS version. It was the last film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture to be released in VHS format. It was also the first Best Picture winner to be released on Blu-ray Disc in the US, on June 27, 2006.

Television series

A 13-episode series premiered on the Starz network on October 17, 2008. The series features Dennis Hopper as a record producer in Los Angeles, California, and how his life is connected to other characters in the city, including a police officer (Ross McCall) and his partner, actress-turned-police officer, Arlene Tur. The cast consists of a Brentwood mother (Clare Carey), her real-estate developer husband (D. B. Sweeney), a former gang member-turned-EMT (Brian Tee), a street-smart driver (Jocko Sims), an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant (Luis Chavez), and a detective (Nick Tarabay).

See also

• Grand Canyon (1991 film)
• Magnolia (1999 film)